Legacy Recordings Acquires Catalog of Music Legend Van Morrison

Thanks for the heads-up.

Loads of Van now on 7digital in 24/96. Most single LPs @ $17.99, but a couple are $10.99--that's cheap enough to try 'em out.

Likes like a busy evening once the wife and kid go to sleep...

 

Just listening to it now. Sounds great and the waveform on my screen tells me that there's audio information all the way up to 48k. Can't hear those frequencies at my age, but it's nice to know that it's there!

 

Kind of glad I went with the budget price on the lossy audio download of A Period of Transition. I'm a fan of the man's music and so there is going to likely be between much and all (or some) I enjoy about any album. On first listen, until the outro of Heavy Connection, APOT doesn't really seem to me to reach the kinds of spontaneous or improvisational highs his music and bands can often create, but I think his voice and singing sounds consistently terrific on songs like You Gotta Make It Through The World and It Fill You Up. Perhaps in a few other parts of songs (Flamingoes Fly, Joyous Sound, Heavy Connection, even Cold Wind In August) it sounds to me like Van is on the verge of losing his tone and phrasing at the top end of his voice but you know he's bringing it all with him laying it out there. The audio mix sometimes or often sounds real strong in the center to me but perhaps slightly recessed on the sides, I don't know. After so many It fill or fills you up, I started to think I needed gasoline in the fuel tank of my car, but really even though that sounds glib, I like the performance of the song and the message. Excuse me for a few seconds while I cue on up to 1:12 into Kansas City. There much better. Joyous Sound sounds to me like it could have fit well into the future on side one of Into The Music. Cold Wind in August sounds to me a bit more like Van's kind of singing and voice on Veedon Fleece or even You're My Woman or Moonshine Whiskey, than the previous songs on APOT, so it's a little hard for me to lose that feeling, but I like the song and performance. It is the only song besides maybe Kansas City where I feel like the backing vocals get in the way a wee bit. I like that short gospel influenced outro of Joyous Sound. A nice touch imo that brings me back to the message of the song. Heavy Connection is fairly light and fun so I like the contrast there.

So, after 2 complete listens, I like and enjoy the album. I think the material by and large is modest for Van but the man makes it work and come alive all the same and it makes me happy to hear it and I am glad I finally bought it.

 

Nice avatar!

 

Very interested to hear what it is like. I am on holiday for a week but will probably download it as soon as I get home

 

I agree with you Stone. There is a reason I am for the most part a lurker and not a participant on this forum. After several years of reading this forum I find it somewhat unfriendly. It seems to me that telling people to use the search engine is the equivalent of telling them to stay quiet and a means of satisfying their perceived sense of annoyance. If you truly did not have an interest in the thread you would simply let the thread die out from silence. Clearly the OP had a sense of excitement over the news and spent some time crafting his post.

I'll go back to lurking and reading the proper thread on the Van Morrison re-issues. Can't wait to wade through all the posts like, "mine hasn't arrived yet."

 

I discovered long ago that you have to develop filters and a thicker skin to enjoy Internet forums. People (myself included) tend to be snarky and sometimes confrontational or rude in ways they would rarely, if ever be in real life. When communicating in short bursts of typed words, usually debating a subject on some level, it just happens. There's no vocal tone or facial expressions to supplement the language, one can't gauge the reaction of the person you're "talking to" - if you're talking to anybody at all. As often as not one is just tossing an opinion into the ring (and often an exaggerated one at that). And you can't read every last word in most of these threads... it's often about taking pleasure in expressing yourself, whether anybody bothers to read your musings or not.

This forum is pretty civilized. There's an ongoing battle about fans of old music versus new, it can be tedious, but also funny and revealing at times. Don't avoid the place. But don't overreact if you get a few knocks either.

 

My 18 month old granddaughter repeated an ill advised editorial comment that her mother made. Fortunately she mispronounced the word as "Apple". My advice is to not act like an Apple on this forum (and ignore the few who do).

 

It's REALLY good. I've not compared it to the vinyl yet, but it's better than the three CD versions I have. Those younger than me (I'm a youthful 61) will probably appreciate the extended top end more, but even I can hear that it's more open and detailed with a precise sound stage. I'd be interested to hear the views of other (younger?) aspiring audiophiles.

This is my fifth version of what I think is Van's best album and it's always sounded outstanding. Simple, clean and dynamic, it's the standard by which the sound quality of all other live albums should be judged. The fact that the songs and performance are staggeringly good helps too!

Oh for a Blu ray of the Rainbow concert from which some of the album comes.

(BTW, I lived in Leverstock Green, not far along the road from you in St Albans for most of my life before moving north to Cumbria. I still pop into Empire Records in Heritage Close whenever I'm back south for family visits. Maybe I'll bump into you in there sometime!)

 

My wife thought it was a good idea to teach our daughter anatomically correct words for private parts. But I don't think my parents knew what she meant when she told mommy that her China felt dirty at the Christmas dinner table... they might have added 2+2 when mother and daughter left the table together to go to the bathroom.

 

For those who can compare, do you think the 24 bit/96 kHz sounds better than the US first pressing in vinyl?

 

The search engines is really not good here. I'll donate another $20 to improve it

 

I agree. The search engine is confusing, and I hate the tone of some here who are always admonishing others to use it when they innocently start a "new" thread. It's the internet equivalent of being admonished at the dinner table for using the "incorrect" fork...

 

Isn't the live album one of the ones slated for expanded release..? I was kind of waiting for that to happen before jumping into the highrez party pool for this title...

 

Most people are pretty cool here I think - there are far nastier forums out there, believe me. Lurking is fine though - you can learn a lot without posting!

 

^Yes indeed it is^

 

There is no shortage of people here who are humorless, and some of them are probably on the autistic spectrum... it's another aspect of the Internet that needs to be taken with a big grain of salt.

 

Van Morrison - The Essential Van Morrison [Blu-spec CD2]

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/SICP-30854

http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Van-Morrison-MORRISON-VAN/dp/B014HZSNMK

 

Looking forward to AW expanded. Listened to the 2 album versions of Ballerina and Slim Slow Slider the other night. I guess in the left channel at the fade of Ballerina sounds like there might be a flute about to take off and the vibraphone is right there next to it sounding ready to vibe too? Am anticipating what undiscovered realms are explored in the complete Slim Slow Slider!

 

Some odd inconsistencies occurring here:
On some of the 2008 CD remasters in the UK there were stickers stating: "Newly remastered (96k /24bit from the original analogue tapes" Strange therefore that, in the first instance, they should have only appeared initially for download as 44.1k / 16bit when higher resolution masters were readily available.


Also some very strange pricing on 7digital:
Double albums (24/96) e.g. 'Too Late to Stop Now' and 'Hymns to the Silence' @ £12.99 whilst some of the single albums e.g. 'Avalon Sunset' and 'A Sense of Wonder' are a ludicrous £31.08 !!
The 16 bit versions are only £8.99. (BTW I have realised that the £31.o8 is £2.59 x 12. i.e. the cost of downloading an individual track x the number of tracks on the album.) although I'm assuming this is probably some sort of error. However 'Too Late to Stop Now' is also available as an MP3 for £10.49 (MP3) only or £8.99 for (320kbps MP3 + 320kbps M4A) whichever takes your fancy perhaps!
Can anyone shed any light on these anomalies?

 

Interesting and a bit agonising as I have about 10 of these 2015 releases to get in hi-res as soon as I can be confident about what it is I'm actually buying. Lossy and streaming versions were rolled out to iTunes, Spotify, et al in the last week or so, that we know. But to date, only 7digital is selling 24/96. So, with the caveat that the following is all pure speculation, here's my take on the current state of Van 2015 24/96 album releases...

• the 2015 releases are mastered from the 2008 transfers
• the record label is yet to release the 2015 proper album filesets to the hi-res vendors Qobuz, 7digital, HDtracks, Pono, et al
• the 24/96 filesets currently being sold by 7digital seem to be the source MFiT/streaming filesets, not the albums proper
• 7digital have shown good form in the past, so there is every reason to hope that they will slot the proper 24/96 album filesets into the existing listings once they are released without buyers having to repurchase

The distinction that I make between album fileset and MFiT/streaming fileset is that the track peak levels vary from track to track (quiet song, loud song) on a normal album released on CD, vinyl, hi-res, etc whereas MFiT files are normalised to a common peak level - makes sense given that they are purposed for individual purchase/stream.
Of course, if you're an albums person you have to have the proper album versions - even though there is probably minimal audible difference in reality - just to preserve the original album flow and dynamics.
Have to admit this is just my own interpretation, and I don't know of anyone else talking about such a distinction between album and MFiT. Though having been through similar wrinkles in hi-res recently with Wilco and Neil Young fileset releases followed by retraction and replacement - I do strongly suspect that is what's happening here as well.

 

DR info on 7digital's 24/96 2015 Veedon Fleece

 

Looks like if you care about dynamics, the original Warner Brothers CDs are still the way to go.

 

That is baffling regarding the 96/24.

 

I bought Beautiful Vision from iTunes and it has sounded 'very good' to me on my home stereo. When I think abut it, it seemed full and rich, neither too dark nor too bright, but in other words, really, I haven't yet had to think much about the sound of it as I have been too busy enjoying it and not having to think about it lol. After a few listens to APOT though, not on the home stereo but still, I found I had to keep turning the volume down throughout the A Period of Transition album. I probably started with it at too enthusiastic a level but by the time each song would pass I kept lowering and lowering it until it got to the point where I wanted more but then it didn't sound as good. Maybe it was me and not the right time for listening.